Massive potholes notwith-standing,highway vehi-cles have little need for mud-terrain tires,but that hasn't stopped some in the growing population of light truck owners from pimping their rides with these aggressive-looking tires.Mud-terrain(M/T)tires are a small but steadily growing segment of the burgeoning light truck tire segment for most tire makers,in some cases accounting for 5% to 10% of their light-truck tire sales.And as pickup trucks coming off assembly lines get bigger,the rim diameters of the M/T tires also are increasing as vehicle owners add lift kits.The upbeat economy has helped this trend.”If the economy is good,people are buying these big-ger vehicles,these Jeeps,these big,full-sized trucks,”Terry Smouter,director of sales management for Hankook Tire America Corp.,said.
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